Puabi

Reconstructed Sumerian headgear necklaces found in the tomb of Puabi, housed at the British Museum

Puabi (Akkadian: "Word of my father"), also called Shubad due to a misinterpretation by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, was an important person in the Sumerian city of Ur, during the First Dynasty of Ur (c. 2600 BC). Commonly labeled as a "queen", her status is somewhat in dispute. Several cylinder seals in her tomb identify her by the title "nin" or "eresh", a Sumerian word which can denote a queen or a priestess. The fact that Puabi, herself a Semitic Akkadian, was an important figure among Sumerians, indicates a high degree of cultural exchange and influence between the ancient Sumerians and their Semitic neighbors.

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BritisharchaeologistLeonard Woolley[1] discovered the tomb of Puabi, which was excavated by his team along with some 1,800 other graves at the "Royal Cemetery of Ur" between 1922 and 1934. Puabi's tomb was clearly unique among the other excavations; not only because of the large amount of high quality and well-preserved grave goods, but also because her tomb had been untouched by looters through the millennia. The amount of grave goods that Woolley uncovered in Puabi's tomb was staggering: a magnificent, heavy, golden headdress made of golden leaves, rings, and plates; a superb lyre (see Lyres of Ur), complete with the golden and lapis-lazuli encrusted bearded bull's head; a profusion of gold tableware; golden, carnelian, and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads for extravagant necklaces and belts; a chariot adorned with lioness' heads in silver, and an abundance of silver, lapis lazuli, and golden rings and bracelets.

Headgear of queen Puabi

She was also buried with 52 attendants: servants, guards, horse, lions, a chariot, and several other bodies — retainers who had been suspected by excavator Leonard Woolley to have poisoned themselves (or had been poisoned by others) to serve their mistress in the next world. Recent evidence derived from CAT scans through the University of Pennsylvania Museum suggests that some of the sacrifices were likely violent and caused by blunt force trauma. A pointed, weighted tool could explain the shatter patterns on the skulls that resulted in death, while a small hammer-like tool has also been found retrieved and catalogued by Woolley during his original excavation. The size and weight fit the damage sustained by the two bodies examined by Aubrey Baadsgaard, PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. Cinnabar, or mercury vapour residue was observed as well, and it would have been utilized to prevent or slow the decomposition of the bodies for the necessary funerary rites.[2]

Harp (restored) of Queen Puabi

Italian archaeologist Massimo Vidale contends that although the blunt force trauma hypothesis is plausible, the causes of death may have also been throat cutting or, as previously thought, poisoning. Unfortunately the age and state of the remains complicates the process of examining them. Almost all of the remains are flattened and shattered by the layers of dirt in which they had been buried. Woolley's practice of pouring plaster to encompass skeletal remains has provided skeletons frozen in dried plaster, and modern imaging technology provides the opportunity to reconstruct and visualize the skulls as they would have been post-mortem prior to the damage caused by millennia of decay. Although there is still some debate on the precise causes and mechanisms of death, as well as the social implications of such practices, post-mortem dressing and arrangement of the corpses has been noted by several scholars. The bodies had been contorted into unnatural positions to imitate lying on each other's laps peacefully, sometimes oriented to hide parts of the skulls that could show damage or trauma.[3] In addition, helmets and intricate headdresses had been placed on the heads, suggesting that the victims may have been killed outside the tombs, dressed, laid out, and after intricate ceremonies for Puabi, finally buried.

1.
Akkadian language
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Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a sprachbund, Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC. From the second half of the third millennium BC, texts written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the second millennium BC, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively, for centuries, Akkadian was the native language in Mesopotamian nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. However, it began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, by the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD, Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to East Africa, which then spread to West, Northwest and Northeast Africa. Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup and this novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order. Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana, other Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə. The origin of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown, in contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative, ḫ. Akkadian lost both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages, until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated. Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c.2500 BC and it was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the cuneiform script could represent either Sumerian logograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ilum, additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names. Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities, nor is there any coordination in the other direction, the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both of these are used for the same syllable in the same text

2.
Sumer
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Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place. Proto-writing in the dates back to c.3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c.5500 and 4000 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language, an agglutinative language isolate. These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called proto-Euphrateans or Ubaidians, some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. Reliable historical records begin much later, there are none in Sumer of any kind that have dated before Enmebaragesi. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia, todays Persian Gulf region, Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period, continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate, and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a Sprachbund, Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC, but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the Neo-Sumerian Empire or Third Dynasty of Ur approximately 2100-2000 BC, the term Sumerian is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Sumer, by the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg ga, phonetically /uŋ saŋ gi ga/, literally meaning the black-headed people, the Akkadian word Shumer may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the phonological development leading to the Akkadian term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew Shinar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar, all referring to southern Mesopotamia, in the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city. The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BC, the Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c.1700 BC, when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian population, 2500–2334 BC Akkadian Empire period, c. 2218–2047 BC Ur III period, c, 2047–1940 BC The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and it is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture

3.
Ur
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Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in south Iraqs Dhi Qar Governorate. The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in history as a City State from the 26th century BC. The site is marked by the restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur. The temple was built in the 21st century BC, during the reign of Ur-Nammu and was reconstructed in the 6th century BC by Nabonidus, the Assyrian born last king of Babylon. The ruins cover an area of 1,200 metres northwest to southeast by 800 metres northeast to southwest, archaeologists have discovered the evidence of an early occupation at Ur during the Ubaid period. These early levels were sealed off with a deposit of soil that was interpreted by excavators of the 1920s as evidence for the Great Flood of the Book of Genesis. The further occupation of Ur only becomes clear during its emergence in the third millennium BC, the third millennium BC is generally described as the Early Bronze Age of Mesopotamia, which ends approximately after the demise of the Third Dynasty of Ur in the 21st century BC. There are two sources which inform scholars about the importance of Ur during the Early Bronze Age. The first is a body of cuneiform documents, mostly from the empire of the so-called Third Dynasty of Ur. This was the most centralized bureaucratic state the world had yet known, concerning the earlier centuries, the Sumerian King List provides a tentative political history of ancient Sumer. The second source of information is archaeological work in modern Iraq, although the early centuries are still poorly understood, the archaeological discoveries have shown unequivocally that Ur was a major urban center on the Mesopotamian plain. Especially the discovery of the Royal Tombs have confirmed its splendour and this wealth, unparalleled up to then, is a testimony of Urs economic importance during the Early Bronze Age. Archaeological research of the region has contributed greatly to our understanding of the landscape. Imports to Ur came from parts of the world. The imported objects include precious metals such as gold and silver and we know that Ur was the most important port on the Persian Gulf, which extended much further inland than it does today. All the wealth came to Mesopotamia by sea had to pass through Ur. So far evidence for the earliest periods of the Early Bronze Age in Mesopotamia is very limited, Mesh-Ane-pada is the first king mentioned in the Sumerian King List, and appears to have lived in the 26th century BC. That Ur was an important urban centre already then seems to be indicated by a type of cylinder seal called the City Seals and these seals contain a set of proto-cuneiform signs which appear to be writings or symbols of the name of city-states in ancient Sumer

4.
Sumerian King List
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Kingship was seen as handed down by the gods, and could be transferred from one city to another, reflecting perceived hegemony in the region. Throughout its Bronze Age existence, the document evolved into a political tool, the list blends prehistorical, presumably mythical predynastic rulers enjoying implausibly lengthy reigns with later, more plausibly historical dynasties. Although the primal kings are historically unattested, that does not preclude their possible correspondence with historical rulers who were later mythicized, Some Assyriologists view the predynastic kings as a later fictional addition. Only one ruler listed is known to be female, Kug-Bau the tavern-keeper, the earliest listed ruler whose historicity has been archaeologically verified is Enmebaragesi of Kish, ca.2600 BC. Reference to him and his successor, Aga of Kish, in the Epic of Gilgamesh has led to speculation that Gilgamesh himself may have been a king of Uruk. Lagash in particular is directly from archaeological artifacts dating from ca.2500 BC. The list is important to the chronology of the 3rd millennium BC, however, the fact that many of the dynasties listed reigned simultaneously from varying localities makes it difficult to reproduce a strict linear chronology. WB62 is a clay tablet, inscribed only on one side. It is the oldest dated source, at c.2000 BC, WB444, in contrast, is a unique inscribed vertical prism, dated c.1817 BC, although some scholars prefer c.1827 BC. The Kish Tablet or Scheil dynastic tablet is an early 2nd millennium BC tablet which came into possession of Jean-Vincent Scheil, UCBC 9-1819 is a clay tablet housed in the collection of the Museum of Anthropology at the University of California. The tablet was inscribed during the reign of the Babylonian King Samsu-iluna, or slightly earlier, the Dynastic Chronicle is a Babylonian king list written on six columns, beginning with entries for the antediluvian Sumerian rulers. K 11261+ is one of the copies of this chronicle, consisting of three joined Neo-Assyrian fragments discovered at the Library of Ashurbanipal, K12054 is another of the Neo-Assyrian fragments from Uruk but contains a variant form of the antediluvians on the list. The later Babylonian king lists and Assyrian king lists repeated the earliest portions of the list, at this time, Berossus wrote Babyloniaca, which popularized fragments of the list in the Hellenic world. In 1960, the Apkullu-list or “Uruk List of Kings and Sages” was discovered by German archaeologists at an ancient temple at Uruk, the list, dating to c.165 BC, contains a series of kings, equivalent to the Sumerian antediluvians, called Apkullu. Early dates are approximate, and are based on archaeological data. For most of the rulers listed, the king list is itself the lone source of information. Beginning with Lugal-zage-si and the Third Dynasty of Uruk, an understanding of how subsequent rulers fit into the chronology of the ancient Near East can be deduced. The short chronology is used here, none of the following predynastic antediluvian rulers has been verified as historical by archaeological excavations, epigraphical inscriptions or otherwise

5.
Queen regent
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A regent is a person appointed to administer a state because the monarch is a minor, is absent or is incapacitated. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency, a regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title, if the formally appointed regent is unavailable or cannot serve on a temporary basis, a Regent ad interim may be appointed to fill the gap. In a monarchy, a regent usually governs due to one of these reasons and this was the case in the Kingdom of Finland and the Kingdom of Hungary, where the royal line was considered extinct in the aftermath of World War I. In Iceland, the regent represented the King of Denmark as sovereign of Iceland until the country became a republic in 1944, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, kings were elective, which often led to a fairly long interregnum. In the interim, it was the Roman Catholic Primate who served as the regent, in the small republic of San Marino, the two Captains Regent, or Capitani Reggenti, are elected semi-annually as joint heads of state and of government. Famous regency periods include that of the Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, giving rise to terms such as Regency era. Strictly this period lasted from 1811 to 1820, when his father George III was insane, as of 1 December 2016, Liechtenstein is the only country with an active regency. The term regent may refer to lower than the ruler of a country. The term may be used in the governance of organisations, typically as an equivalent of director, some university managers in North America are called regents and a management board for a college or university may be titled the Board of Regents. The term regent is used for members of governing bodies of institutions such as the national banks of France. This type of group portrait was popular in Dutch Golden Age painting during the 17th century, in the Dutch East Indies, a regent was a native prince allowed to rule de facto colonized state as a regentschap. Consequently, in the state of Indonesia, the term regent is used in English to mean a bupati. Again in Belgium and France, Regent is the title of a teacher in a lower secondary school. In the Philippines, specifically, the University of Santo Tomas, the Father Regent and they also form the Council of Regents that serves as the highest administrative council of the university. In the Society of Jesus, a regent is a training to be a Jesuit. A regent in the Jesuits is often assigned to teach in a school or some other academic institution as part of the formation toward final vows, list of regents Viceroy, an individual who, in a colony or province, exercised the power of a monarch on his behalf

6.
Cylinder seal
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Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Susa in south-western Iran and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. They are linked to the invention of the cuneiform writing on clay tablets. They were used as a tool, a form of signature, as well as jewelry and as magical amulets. In later periods, they were used to notarize or attest to multiple impressions of clay documents, graves and other sites housing precious items such as gold, silver, beads, and gemstones often included one or two cylinder seals, as honorific grave goods. The cylinder seals themselves are made from hardstones, and some are a form of engraved gem. They may instead use glass or ceramics, like Egyptian faience, many varieties of material such as hematite, obsidian, steatite, amethyst, lapis lazuli and carnelian were used to make cylinder seals. As the alluvial country of Mesopotamia lacks good stone for carving, most seals have a hole running through the centre of the body, and they are thought to have typically been worn on a necklace so that they were always available when needed. While most Mesopotamian cylinder seals form an image through the use of depressions in the cylinder surface, the former are used primarily on wet clays, the latter, sometimes referred to as roller stamps, are used to print images on cloth and other similar two dimensional surfaces. Cylinder seals are a form of seal, a category which includes the stamp seal. They survive in large numbers and are often important as art, especially in the Babylonian. Impressions into a material can be taken without risk of damage to the seal. Instead of addressing the authority of the seal, a study may be of the thematic nature of the seals, since they presented the ideas of the society in pictographic. In a famous cylinder depicting Darius I of Persia, he is aiming his drawn bow at an upright enraged lion impaled by two arrows, while his horse is trampling a deceased lion. The scene is framed between two palm trees, a block of cuneiform text, and above the scene, the Faravahar symbol of Ahura Mazda. The reference below, Garbini, covers many of the categories of cylinder seal. Dominique Collons book First Impressions, which is dedicated to the topic, has over 1000 illustrations, a categorization of cylinder seals, Akkadian cylinder seals. Akkadian seal, ca.2300 BC, stone seal w/ modern impression, the glyptic shows God in barge, people, and offerings. Predynastic Egyptian Naqada era tombs and graves, Egyptian Faience, see Pepi I ext link

7.
NIN (cuneiform)
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The Sumerian word NIN was used to denote a queen or a priestess, and is often translated as lady. Other translations include queen, mistress, proprietress, and lord, many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN. GAL, DÉ. NIN. GAL, DEREŠ. KI. GAL, and DNIN. TI. The compound form NIN. DINGIR, from the Akkadian entu, NIN originated as a ligature of the cuneiform glyphs of MUNUS and TÚG, the NIN sign was written as MUNUS. TÚG in archaic cuneiform, notably in the Codex Hammurabi. The syllable nin, on the hand, was written as MUNUS. KA in Assyrian cuneiform. Ninsun as the mother of Gilgamesh in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the other personage using NIN is the god Ninurta, who appears in Tablet I, and especially in the flood myth of Tablet XI. Of the 51 uses of NIN, the other major usage is for the Akkadian word eninna, eninna is the adverb now, but it can also be used as a conjunction, or as a segue-form. The Standard Babylonian, Epic of Gilgamesh, cS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list in the original Akkadian cuneiform and transliteration, commentary and glossary are in English

8.
Akkadian Empire
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The empire united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian Empire controlled Mesopotamia, the Levant, and eastern and southern parts of Anatolia and Iran, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan in the Arabian Peninsula. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed an intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC, the Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad. Under Sargon and his successors, the Akkadian language was imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though there are earlier Sumerian claimants, the Bible refers to Akkad in Genesis 10,10, which states that the beginning of Nimrods kingdom was in the land of Akkad. Nimrod is a Hebrew name not attested in Mesopotamians sources, many have pointed out similarities with the legend of Gilgamesh who founded Uruk, which is said to be the city Nimrod came to power. Today, some 7,000 texts from the Akkadian period alone are known, many later texts from the successor states of Assyria and Babylonia also deal with the Akkadian Empire. Understanding of the Akkadian Empire continues to be hampered by the fact that its capital Akkad has not yet been located, likewise, material that is thought to be Akkadian continues to be in use into the Ur III period. Many of the recent insights on the Akkadian Empire have come from excavations in the Upper Khabur area in modern northeastern Syria which was to become a part of Assyria after the fall of Akkad. For example, excavations at Tell Mozan brought to light a sealing of Taram-Agade, an unknown daughter of Naram-Sin. The excavators at nearby Tell Leilan have used the results from their investigations to argue that the Akkadian Empire came to an end due to a sudden drought, the so-called 4.2 kiloyear event. The impact of this event on Mesopotamia in general, and on the Akkadian Empire in particular. The Akkadian Period is contemporary with, EB IV, EB IVA and EJ IV, the absolute dates of their reigns are approximate. The Akkadian Empire takes its name from the region and city of Akkad, although the city of Akkad has not yet been identified on the ground, it is known from various textual sources. Among these is at least one text predating the reign of Sargon, together with the fact that the name Akkad is of non-Akkadian origin, this suggests that the city of Akkad may have already been occupied in pre-Sargonic times. Sargon of Akkad defeated and captured Lugal-Zage-Si in the Battle of Uruk, the earliest records in the Akkadian language date to the time of Sargon. Sargon was claimed to be the son of Laibum or Itti-Bel, a humble gardener, One legend related of Sargon in Assyrian times says that My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not

9.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

10.
Archaeologist
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropology, archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades. Archaeology as a field is distinct from the discipline of palaeontology, Archaeology is particularly important for learning about prehistoric societies, for whom there may be no written records to study. Prehistory includes over 99% of the human past, from the Paleolithic until the advent of literacy in societies across the world, Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation and eventually analysis of data collected to learn more about the past, in broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Archaeology developed out of antiquarianism in Europe during the 19th century, Archaeology has been used by nation-states to create particular visions of the past. Nonetheless, today, archaeologists face many problems, such as dealing with pseudoarchaeology, the looting of artifacts, a lack of public interest, the science of archaeology grew out of the older multi-disciplinary study known as antiquarianism. Antiquarians studied history with attention to ancient artifacts and manuscripts. Tentative steps towards the systematization of archaeology as a science took place during the Enlightenment era in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, in Europe, philosophical interest in the remains of Greco-Roman civilization and the rediscovery of classical culture began in the late Middle Age. Antiquarians, including John Leland and William Camden, conducted surveys of the English countryside, one of the first sites to undergo archaeological excavation was Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments in England. John Aubrey was a pioneer archaeologist who recorded numerous megalithic and other monuments in southern England. He was also ahead of his time in the analysis of his findings and he attempted to chart the chronological stylistic evolution of handwriting, medieval architecture, costume, and shield-shapes. Excavations were also carried out in the ancient towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum and these excavations began in 1748 in Pompeii, while in Herculaneum they began in 1738. The discovery of entire towns, complete with utensils and even human shapes, however, prior to the development of modern techniques, excavations tended to be haphazard, the importance of concepts such as stratification and context were overlooked. The father of archaeological excavation was William Cunnington and he undertook excavations in Wiltshire from around 1798, funded by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. Cunnington made meticulous recordings of neolithic and Bronze Age barrows, one of the major achievements of 19th century archaeology was the development of stratigraphy. The idea of overlapping strata tracing back to successive periods was borrowed from the new geological and paleontological work of scholars like William Smith, James Hutton, the application of stratigraphy to archaeology first took place with the excavations of prehistorical and Bronze Age sites

11.
Grave goods
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Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a type of votive deposit, most grave goods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery and stone and metal tools but organic objects that have since decayed were also placed in ancient tombs. Funerary art is a term but generally means artworks made specifically to decorate a burial place. Where grave goods appear, grave robbery is a potential problem, etruscans would scratch the word śuθina, Etruscan for from a tomb, on grave goods buried with the dead to discourage their reuse by the living. The tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamun is famous because it was one of the few Egyptian tombs that was not thoroughly looted in ancient times, Grave goods can be regarded as a sacrifice intended for the benefit of the deceased in the afterlife. Closely related are customs of worship and offerings to the dead, in modern western culture related to All Souls Day, in East Asia the hell bank note. Also closely related is the custom of retainer sacrifice, where servants or wives of a deceased chieftain are interred with the body, evidence for intentional burial is found in Neanderthal sites from 130,000 years ago or earlier. In Homo sapiens burials beginning about 100,000 years ago, the body of the deceased was sprinkled with red ochre, and offerings of food, tools, and fresh flowers may have been deposited in the grave. Beads made of basalt deposited in graves in the Fertile Crescent date to the end of the Upper Paleolithic, the distribution of grave goods are a potential indicator of the social stratification of a society. It is also possible that burial goods indicate a level of concern and consciousness in regard to an afterlife, the expression of social status in rich graves is taken to extremes in the royal graves of the Bronze Age. In the Theban Necropolis in Ancient Egypt, the pyramids and the graves in the Valley of the Kings are among the most elaborate burials in human history. This trend is continued into the Iron Age, an example of an extremely rich royal grave of the Iron Age is the Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang. In the sphere of the Roman Empire, early Christian graves lack grave goods, in the Christian Middle Ages, high-status graves are marked on the exterior, with tomb effigies or expensive tomb stones rather than by the presence of grave goods. The importance of goods, from the simple behavioural and technical to the metaphysical. However, care must be taken to avoid naive interpretation of grave goods as a sample of artefacts in use in a culture. Because of their context, grave goods may represent a special class of artifacts. Burial Grave field Necropolis Mingqi, the traditional Chinese burial goods The Earliest Beads, Treasures From the Ancient World, Museum of Ancient and Modern Art, at muma. org

12.
Lyres of Ur
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The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are considered to be the worlds oldest surviving stringed instruments. In 1929, archaeologists led by Leonard Woolley discovered the instruments when excavating the Royal Cemetery of Ur between from 1922 and 1934 and they discovered pieces of three lyres and one harp in Ur, located in what was Ancient Mesopotamia and is contemporary Iraq. They are over 4,500 years old, from ancient Mesopotamia during the Early Dynastic III Period, the decorations on the lyres are fine examples of the court Art of Mesopotamia of the period. Leonard Woolley, a British archaeologist, discovered the lyres amongst the bodies of ten women in the Royal cemetery at Ur, one body was even said to be laying against the lyre with her skeletal hand placed where the strings would have been. Upon this discovery, Woolley was quick to pour in a plaster to recover the delicate form of the wooden frame. The wood of the lyres was decayed but since some were covered in nonperishable materials, like gold and silver, strictly speaking, three lyres and one harp were discovered, but all are often called lyres. The instrument remains were restored and distributed between the museums that took part in the digs, a Lyre is a musical instrument that is stringed and has a role projecting from the body. There are two types of lyres, box and bowl, like their names suggest the box lyres have a boxlike body and the bowl lyres have a round body with a curved back. The Lyres of Ur are box lyres and they were played in an upright position with the strings plucked with both hands. Because of how they were discovered it is believed that the lyres were used in ceremonies in accompaniment to songs. Each lyre has 11 strings to play on that would produce a noise that repeated throughout the song. The musician playing the instrument would repeat the pattern displayed on the lyre, the Golden Lyre of Ur or Bulls Lyre is the finest lyre, and was given to the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad. Its reconstructed wooden body was damaged due to flooding during the second Iraqi War, the Golden Lyre got its name because the whole head of the bull is made of gold. The eyes are made of inlaid mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli, the beard is similar in appearance to the Great Lyre and the Queens Lyre. The body of the bull was originally wood but did not survive and its discoverer, Woolley, believes that unlike the other lyres, the body of the Golden Lyre would have originally had legs. The Queens Lyre is one of two that Woolley found in the grave of Queen Pu-abi, the Queens Lyre is 110 centimetres in height and is similar in appearance to that of the Great Lyre. The mask of the bull is gold, the eyes, hair, and beard are all made of lapis lazuli and the horns are modern. The shape of the lyre is meant to resemble a bulls body, a noticeable difference between the Great Lyre and the Queens Lyre is that the Great Lyre has a straight forehead where the Queens Lyre curves slightly around the brow bone

13.
Tableware
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Tableware is the dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware. Sets of dishes are referred to as a service, dinner service or service set. Table settings or place settings are the dishes, cutlery and glassware used for formal and informal dining, in Ireland such items are normally referred to as delph, the word being an English language phonetic spelling of the word delft, the town from which so much delftware came. Silver service or butler service are methods for a butler or waiter to serve a meal, Setting the table refers to arranging the tableware, including individual place settings for each diner at the table as well as decorating the table itself in a manner suitable for the occasion. Tableware and table decoration is more elaborate for special occasions. Unusual dining locations demand tableware be adapted, dishes are usually made of ceramic materials such as earthenware, stoneware, faience, bone china or porcelain. However, they can be made of materials such as wood, pewter, silver, gold, glass. Before it was possible to purchase mass-produced tableware, it was fashioned from available materials, industrialisation and developments in ceramic manufacture made inexpensive washable tableware available. It is sold either by the piece or as a set for a number of diners, normally four, six, eight. Large quantities are purchased for use in restaurants, individual pieces, such as those needed as replacement pieces for broken dishes, can be procured from open stock inventory at shops, or from antique dealers if the pattern is no longer in production. Possession of tableware has to a large extent been determined by individual wealth, the greater the means, the higher was the quality of tableware that was owned and the more numerous its pieces. In the London of the 13th century, the more affluent citizens owned fine furniture and silver, while those of straiter means possessed only the simplest pottery and kitchen utensils. By the later 16th century, even the poorer citizens dined off pewter rather than wood and had plate, jars, the nobility often used their arms on heraldic china. Table decoration may be ephemeral and consist of items made from confectionery or wax - substances commonly employed in Roman banqueting tables of the 17th century, in modern times, ephemeral table decorations continue to be made from sugar or carved from ice. In wealthy countries such as 17th century France, table decorations for the aristocracy were made of silver

14.
Lapis lazuli
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Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue, semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus. It was used in the mask of Tutankhamun. At the end of the Middle Ages, lapis lazuli began to be exported to Europe, where it was ground into powder and made into ultramarine, today, mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, the name Lapis lazuli came to be associated with its color. The English word azure, French azur, Italian azzurro, Polish lazur, Romanian azur and azuriu, Portuguese and Spanish azul, the most important mineral component of lapis lazuli is lazurite, a feldspathoid silicate mineral with the formula 861-2. Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite, sodalite, and pyrite, some samples of lapis lazuli contain augite, diopside, enstatite, mica, hauynite, hornblende, nosean, and sulfur-rich löllingite geyerite. Lapis lazuli usually occurs in marble as a result of contact metamorphism. The intense blue color is due to the presence of the radical anion in the crystal. An electronic excitation of one electron from the highest doubly filled molecular orbital into the lowest singly occupied orbital results in an intense absorption line at λmax ~617 nm. Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in northeastern Afghanistan, Afghanistan was the source of lapis for the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations, as well as the later Greeks and Romans. Ancient Egyptians obtained this material through trade from Afghanistan, during the height of the Indus Valley Civilisation about 2000 BC, the Harappan colony now known as Shortugai was established near the lapis mines. In addition to the Afghan deposits, lapis is also extracted in the Andes and it is mined in smaller amounts in Angola, Argentina, Burma, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, India, and in the United States in California and Colorado. Lapis takes an excellent polish and can be made into jewelry, carvings, boxes, mosaics, ornaments, small statues, during the Renaissance, Lapis was ground and processed to make the pigment ultramarine for use in frescoes and oil painting. Its usage as a pigment in oil paint largely ended in the early 19th century when a chemically identical synthetic variety became available, Lapis lazuli is commercially synthesized or simulated by the Gilson process, which is used to make artificial ultramarine and hydrous zinc phosphates. It may also be substituted by spinel or sodalite, or by dyed jasper or howlite, Lapis lazuli has been mined in Afghanistan and exported to the Mediterranean world and South Asia since the Neolithic age

15.
University of Pennsylvania Museum
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The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology — commonly called Penn Museum — is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penns campus in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, since 1958, the Penn Museum has published Expedition magazine. The excavations and collections of the Museum provide resources for student research, the scientific research center MASCA ] was also closed, although the MASCA scientists were moved to other Sections within the museum. Museum administrators announced that this was a measure taken due to the current financial crisis, on June 1, then-Director Dr. Richard Hodges announced that newly defined positions as Associate Curator or Research Project Manager have been offered to 11 of the 18 individuals affected. The Museum is housed in an Arts and Crafts and Eclectic style building that is one of the landmarks of the University of Pennsylvania campus. The existing original building is only approximately one-third of an ambitious design that would have created one of the largest museum buildings in the United States. Features of the extant building include a rotunda, multiple courtyards and gardens, a fountain, reflecting pool, glass mosaics, iron gates. The Penn Museum was designed by a team of Philadelphia architects, all of whom taught on the faculty of the University, Wilson Eyre, Cope & Stewardson and Frank Miles Day. The first phase was completed in 1899 and housed the discoveries from an expedition sponsored by the University to the ancient site of Nippur, in 1915, the rotunda, which houses the Harrison Auditorium in the basement was completed. Charles Klauder designed the Coxe Memorial Wing, which opened in 1926 to house the Museums Egyptian collection, the Sharpe Wing was completed in 1929. The Coxe Memorial Egyptian Wing was added to the museum in 1924 through a bequest by former board president Eckley Coxe. The administrative wing was added in 1929, the Academic Wing, which provided laboratories for the Anthropology department and classrooms was opened in 1971. The most recent major addition was made in 2002, with the addition of the Mainwaring Wing, the Museum Library was established in 1900 when the personal library of University of Pennsylvania professor of American archaeology and linguistics Daniel Garrison Brinton was acquired. This library contained an estimated 4,098 volumes of which the ethnology, the original location of the library holdings was the Furness Building until they were transferred to the Museum building in 1898. They were relocated to the Elkins Library up until 1971 upon when they were moved to their home in the University extension of the museum. The library collection was maintained by a staff of a single part-time librarian until 1942 when Cynthia Griffin became the first full-time librarian and it was under Cynthia that the collection and library witnessed many developments. Prior to her use of the library had been limited to employees of the museum and university professor, however. She also augmented communication networks between the library and libraries worldwide, the range of disciplines featured in the collection is specific to the museum itself and incorporates all divisions of anthropology and archaeology

16.
Cinnabar
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Cinnabar generally occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. The mineral resembles quartz in symmetry and in its exhibiting birefringence, cinnabar has a refractive index of ~3.2. The color and properties derive from a structure that is a crystalline lattice belonging to the hexagonal crystal system. Associated modern precautions for use and handling of cinnabar arise from the toxicity of the mercury component, the name comes from Ancient Greek, κιννάβαρι, a Greek word most likely applied by Theophrastus to several distinct substances. Other sources say the word comes from the Persian, شنگرف‎‎ shangarf, in Latin it was sometimes known as minium, meaning also red cinnamon, though both of these terms now refer specifically to lead tetroxide. Cinnabar is generally found in a massive, granular or earthy form and is bright scarlet to brick-red in color and it resembles quartz in its symmetry. It exhibits birefringence, and it has the highest refractive index of any mineral and its mean refractive index is 3.08, versus the indices for diamond and the non-mineral gallium arsenide, which are 2.42 and 3.93, respectively. The hardness of cinnabar is 2. 0–2.5 on the Mohs scale, structurally, cinnabar belongs to the trigonal crystal system. It occurs as thick tabular or slender prismatic crystals or as granular to massive incrustations, crystal twinning occurs as simple contact twins. Note, mercury sulfide, HgS, adopts the structure described. Cinnabar is the stable form, and is a structure akin to that of HgO. In addition, HgS is found in a black, non-cinnabar polymorph that has the zincblende structure, Cinnabar generally occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. Cinnabar is deposited by epithermal ascending aqueous solutions far removed from their igneous source and it is associated with native mercury, stibnite, realgar, pyrite, marcasite, opal, quartz, chalcedony, dolomite, calcite and barite. Cinnabar is essentially found in all mineral extraction localities that yield mercury, notably Puerto Princesa, Almadén, New Almaden, Hastings Mine and it was also mined near Red Devil, Alaska on the middle Kuskokwim River. Red Devil was named after the Red Devil cinnabar mine, a source of mercury. It has been found in Dominica near its sulfur springs at the end of the island along the west coast. Cinnabar is still being deposited, e. g. at the present day from the hot waters of Sulphur Bank Mine in California and Steamboat Springs, Nevada. As the most common source of mercury in nature, cinnabar has been mined for thousands of years, during the Roman Empire it was mined both as a pigment, and for its mercury content

17.
Natural History Museum, London
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The Natural History Museum in London is a museum of natural history that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum, the Natural History Museums main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 80 million items within five main collections, botany, the museum is a world-renowned centre of research specialising in taxonomy, identification and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, the museum is recognised as the pre-eminent centre of natural history and research of related fields in the world. Although commonly referred to as the Natural History Museum, it was known as British Museum until 1992. Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881, the Darwin Centre is a more recent addition, partly designed as a modern facility for storing the valuable collections. Like other publicly funded museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee. The museum is a charity and a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is a patron of the museum, there are approximately 850 staff at the Museum. The two largest strategic groups are the Public Engagement Group and Science Group and this purchase was funded by a lottery. Sloanes collection, which included dried plants, and animal and human skeletons, was housed in Montagu House, Bloomsbury, in 1756. Most of the Sloane collection had disappeared by the decades of the nineteenth century. Dr George Shaw sold many specimens to the Royal College of Surgeons and had periodic cremations of material in the grounds of the museum and his successors also applied to the trustees for permission to destroy decayed specimens. In 1833 the Annual Report states that, of the 5,500 insects listed in the Sloane catalogue, the inability of the natural history departments to conserve its specimens became notorious, the Treasury refused to entrust it with specimens collected at the governments expense. The huge collection of the conchologist Hugh Cuming was acquired by the museum and that collection is said never to have recovered. The Principal Librarian at the time was Antonio Panizzi, his contempt for the history departments. The general public was not encouraged to visit the Museums natural history exhibits, in 1835 to a Select Committee of Parliament, Sir Henry Ellis said this policy was fully approved by the Principal Librarian and his senior colleagues. Many of these faults were corrected by the palaeontologist Richard Owen and his changes led Bill Bryson to write that by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for

18.
British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally a museum of art objects and antiquities. Its foundations lie in the will of the Irish-born British physician, on 7 June 1753, King George II gave his formal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. They were joined in 1757 by the Old Royal Library, now the Royal manuscripts, together these four foundation collections included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf. The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public, sloanes collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary, the body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The Trustees rejected Buckingham House, on the now occupied by Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost. With the acquisition of Montagu House the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts. A list of donations to the Museum, dated 31 January 1784, in the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman Sculpture, in 1805. In 1816 these masterpieces of art, were acquired by The British Museum by Act of Parliament. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815, the Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from the widow of Claudius James Rich. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an extension to the Museum. For the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it, and put forward plans for todays quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the Kings Library Gallery began in 1823, the extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. The Museum became a site as Sir Robert Smirkes grand neo-classical building gradually arose

19.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area

20.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland

21.
Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 -3,000,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate

22.
Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict and it became re-involved in 2014 at the head of a new coalition, the insurgency and many dimensions of the civil armed conflict continue. The invasion began on 20 March 2003, with the U. S. joined by the United Kingdom and several allies, launching a shock. Iraqi forces were overwhelmed as U. S. forces swept through the country. The invasion led to the collapse of the Baathist government, President Hussein was captured during Operation Red Dawn in December of that same year, the United States responded with a troop surge in 2007. The winding down of U. S. involvement in Iraq accelerated under President Barack Obama, the U. S. formally withdrew all combat troops from Iraq by December 2011. Select U. S. officials accused Saddam of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, while others cited the desire to end a repressive dictatorship, after the invasion, no substantial evidence was found to verify the initial claims about WMDs. The rationale and misrepresentation of pre-war intelligence faced heavy criticism within the U. S. in the aftermath of the invasion, Iraq held multi-party elections in 2005. Nouri al-Maliki became Prime Minister in 2006 and remained in office until 2014, the al-Maliki government enacted policies that were widely seen as having the effect of alienating the countrys Sunni minority and worsening sectarian tensions. The Iraq War caused hundreds of thousands of civilian, and thousands of military casualties, the majority of casualties occurred as a result of the insurgency and civil conflicts between 2004 and 2007. A1990 Frontline report on The arming of Iraq said, Officially, most Western nations participated in an arms embargo against Iraq during the 1980s. Western companies, primarily in Germany and Great Britain, but also in the United States, sold Iraq the key technology for its chemical, missile, any Western governments seemed remarkably indifferent, if not enthusiastic, about those deals. N Washington, the government consistently followed a policy which allowed and perhaps encouraged the growth of Saddam Husseins arsenal. The Western arming of Iraq took place in the context of the Iran-Iraq War, prior to September 2002, the CIA was the George W. Bush administrations main provider of intelligence on Iraq. The agency was out to disprove linkage between Iraq and terrorism the Pentagon adviser told me, the U. N. had prohibited Iraq from developing or possessing such weapons after the Gulf War and required Iraq to permit inspections confirming compliance. This was confirmed by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, during 2002, Bush repeatedly warned of military action against Iraq unless inspections were allowed to progress unfettered. In accordance with U. N. Security Council Resolution 1441, Iraq agreed to new inspections under United Nations Monitoring, as part of its weapons inspection obligations, Iraq was required to supply a full declaration of its current weapons capabilities and manufacturing

23.
Dumuzid the Shepherd
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Dumuzid, called the Shepherd, from Bad-tibira in Sumer, was, according to the Sumerian King List, the fifth predynastic king in the legendary period before the Deluge. The list further states that Dumuzid ruled for 36,000 years, Dumuzid the Shepherd is also the subject of a series of epic poems in Sumerian literature. She dissuades the demons from taking the rulers of Umma and Bad-tibira, however, when they come to Uruk, they find Dumuzid the Shepherd sitting in palatial opulence, and seize him immediately, taking him into the underworld as Inannas substitute. Dumuzid and Ngeshtin-ana, Inanna gives Dumuzid over to the demons as her substitute, they proceed to violate him, the demons pursue Dumuzid there, and eventually find him hiding in the pasture. Dumuzids sister seems to be mourning his death in this tablet, no sooner does she speak this, than men of Adab, Akshak, Uruk, Ur, and Nippur are indeed sighted coming for him with clubs. Dumuzid resolves to hide in the district of Alali, but they catch him. He escapes from them and reaches to the district of Kubiresh, escaping again to the house of Old Woman Bilulu, he is again caught, but then escapes once more to his sisters home. There he is caught a last time, hiding in the pasture, Inanna and Bilulu, This describes how Inanna avenges her lover Dumuzids death, by killing Old Woman Bilulu. Later poems and hymns of praise to Dumuzid indicate that he was considered a deity. Pictured as a bird with a wing, Dumuzid now stays in the woods crying My wing. The mournful two-note call of these birds also evokes the Akkadian kappi, history of Sumer Mesopotamian mythology ETCSL, Texts and translations of Dumuzid myths

24.
Kish (Sumer)
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Kish was occupied from the Jemdet Nasr period, gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the early dynastic period. The Sumerian king list states that Kish was the first city to have following the deluge. Jushurs successor is called Kullassina-bel, but this is actually a sentence in Akkadian meaning All of them were lord, thus, some scholars have suggested that this may have been intended to signify the absence of a central authority in Kish for a time. The names of the nine kings of Kish preceding Etana are all Akkadian words for animals. The twelfth king of Kish appearing on the Sumerian king list, Etana, is noted as the shepherd, who ascended to heaven and consolidated all the foreign countries. Although his reign has yet to be archaeologically attested, his name is found in later legendary tablets, and Etana is sometimes regarded as the first king and founder of Kish. The twenty-first king of Kish on the list, Enmebaragesi, who is said to have captured the weapons of Elam, is the first name confirmed by finds from his reign. He is also known through literary references, in which he and his son Aga of Kish are portrayed as contemporary rivals of Dumuzid, the Fisherman. Some early kings of Kish are known through archaeology, but are not named on the King list. These include Utug or Uhub, said to have defeated Hamazi in the earliest days, and Mesilim, who built temples in Adab and Lagash, the Third Dynasty of Kish is unique in that it begins with a woman, previously a tavern keeper, Kubau, as king. She was later deified as the goddess Kheba, afterwards, although its military and economic power was diminished, Kish retained a strong political and symbolic significance. Just as with Nippur to the south, control of Kish was an element in legitimizing dominance over the north of Mesopotamia. Because of the symbolic value, strong rulers later claimed the traditional title King of Kish, even if they were from Akkad, Ur, Assyria, Isin. One of the earliest to adopt this title upon subjecting Kish to his empire was King Mesannepada of Ur, a few governors of Kish for other powers in later times are also known. Sargon of Akkad, the founder of the Akkadian Empire came from the area nearby Kish and he would later declare himself the king of Kish, as an attempt to signify his connection to the religiously important area. In Akkadian times the citys patron deity was Zababa, along with his wife, Kish continued to be occupied through the pre-Babylonian, old Babylonian, Kassite, and Neo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian periods, and into classical Seleucid times, before being abandoned. The most notable mounds are, - Tell Uhaimir - believed to be the location of the city of Kish and it means the red after the red bricks of the ziggurat there. Tell Ingharra - believed to be the location of Hursagkalamma, east of Kish home of a temple of Inanna and those tablets ended up in a variety of museums

25.
Uruk
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Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC. At its height c.2900 BC, Uruk probably had 50, 000–80,000 residents living in 6 km2 of walled area, the legendary king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list, ruled Uruk in the 27th century BC. The site of Uruk was visited in 1849 by William Kennett Loftus who led the first excavations from 1850 to 1854, the Arabic name of Babylonia, al-ʿIrāq, is thought to be derived from the name Uruk, via Aramaic and possibly Middle Persian transmission. In myth and literature, Uruk was famous as the city of Gilgamesh. It is also believed Uruk is the biblical Erech, the city founded by Nimrod in Shinar. In addition to being one of the first cities, Uruk was the force of urbanization and state formation during the Uruk period. This period of 800 years saw a shift from small, agricultural villages to an urban center with a full-time bureaucracy, military. Although other settlements coexisted with Uruk, they were generally about 10 hectares while Uruk was significantly larger, the Uruk period culture exported by Sumerian traders and colonists had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. Ultimately, Uruk could not maintain control over colonies such as Tell Brak by military force. Geographic factors underpin Uruks unprecedented growth, the city was located in the southern part of Mesopotamia, an ancient site of civilization, on the Euphrates river. Through the gradual and eventual domestication of native grains from the Zagros foothills and extensive irrigation techniques and this domestication of grain and its proximity to rivers enabled Uruks growth into the largest Sumerian settlement, in both population and area, with relative ease. Uruks agricultural surplus and large population base facilitated processes such as trade, specialization of crafts, evidence from excavations such as extensive pottery and the earliest known tablets of writing support these events. Excavation of Uruk is highly complex because older buildings were recycled into newer ones, the topmost layer most likely originated in the Jemdet Nasr period and is built on structures from earlier periods dating back to the Ubaid period. According to the Sumerian king list, Uruk was founded by the king Enmerkar, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh builds the city wall around Uruk and is king of the city. Uruk went through phases of growth, from the Early Uruk period to the Late Uruk period. The city was formed two smaller Ubaid settlements merged. The temple complexes at their cores became the Eanna District and the Anu District dedicated to Inanna and Anu, the Anu District was originally called Kullaba prior to merging with the Eanna District

26.
Gilgamesh
–
Gilgamesh is the main character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an Akkadian poem that is considered the first great work of literature, and in earlier Sumerian poems. His name means something to the effect of The Ancestor is a Young-man, from Bil. ga = Ancestor, Elder and Mes/Mesh3 = Young-Man. Gilgamesh is generally seen by scholars as a figure, since inscriptions have been found which confirm the existence of other figures associated with him in the epic. If Gilgamesh existed, he probably was a king who reigned sometime between 2800 and 2500 BC, the Sumerian King List claims that Gilgamesh ruled the city of Uruk for 126 years. According to the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh and his son Urlugal rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil in Tummal, the story was discovered in the nineteenth century, and allows us to take a glimpse into the cultures and people of the region. This epic poetry is a cycle of Sumerian recordings, probably of an oral tradition in which he appears under the name Bilgamesh. These poems include many of the stories that would make up the later, more famous Epic of Gilgamesh, the latest and most comprehensive telling of the Gilgamesh legend was the twelve-tablet Standard Babylonian Version, compiled c.1200 BC by the exorcist-priest Sîn-lēqi-unninni. Fragments of a text found in Me-Turan relate that at the end of his life Gilgamesh was buried under the river bed. The people of Uruk diverted the flow of the Euphrates passing Uruk for the purpose of burying the dead king within the river bed, in April 2003, a German expedition claimed to have discovered his last resting place. Some of the Sumerian texts spell his name as Bilgamesh, initial difficulties in reading cuneiform resulted in Gilgameshs name being initially given as Izdubar when parts of the epic were first published in English in 1872. Although Gilgamesh was originally considered by scholars to be a semidivine hero, if Gilgamesh was a historical king, he probably reigned in about the 26th century BC. In the Qumran scroll known as Book of Giants the names of Gilgamesh and this same text was later used in the Middle East by the Manichaean sects, and the Arabic form Gilgamish/Jiljamish survives as the name of a demon according to the Egyptian cleric Al-Suyuti. The name Gilgamesh appears once in Greek, as Gilgamos, in Aelians De Natura Animalium 12.21. In Aelians story, the King of Babylon, Seuechorus or Euechorus, determined by oracle that his grandson Gilgamos would kill him, an eagle broke his fall, and the infant was found and raised by a gardener, eventually becoming king. Atra-Hasis David Demigod Enkidu Enûma Eliš Gilgamesh in popular culture Heracles Odysseus Samson Media related to Gilgamesh at Wikimedia Commons

27.
Lagash
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Lagash/ˈleɪɡæʃ/ is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East, the ancient site of Nina is around 10 km away and marks the southern limit of the state. Nearby Girsu, about 25 km northwest of Lagash, was the center of the Lagash state. Lagashs main temple was the E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu, from inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of Kienĝir and Kish on the north. After the collapse of Sargons state, Lagash again thrived under its independent kings, Ur-Bau and Gudea and his was especially the era of artistic development. We even have a good idea of what Gudea looked like. At the time of Gudea, the capital of Lagash was actually in Girsu, the kingdom covered an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres. It contained 17 larger cities, eight district capitals, and numerous villages, according to one estimate, Lagash was the largest city in the world from ca.2075 to 2030 BC. Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces, there is some information about the area during the Old Babylonian period. In ca.2450 BC, Lagash and the city of Umma fell out with each other after a border dispute. As described in Stele of the Vultures the current king of Lagash, Eannatum, inspired by the god of his city, Ningirsu. Initial details of the battle are unclear, but the Stele is able to portray a few details about the event. According to the Steles engravings, when the two met each other in the field, Eannatum dismounted from his chariot and proceeded to lead his men on foot. After lowing their spears, the Lagash army advanced upon the army from Umma in a dense Phalanx, after a brief clash, Eannatum and his army had gained victory over the army of Umma. Despite having been struck in the eye by an arrow, the king of Lagash lived on to enjoy his armys victory and this battle is one of the earliest organised battles known to scholars and historians. These dynasties are not found on the Sumerian King List, although one extremely fragmentary supplement has been found in Sumerian, at the end of the list is the statement Written in the school, suggesting this was a scribal school production. A few of the names from the Lagash rulers listed below may be out, including Ur-Nanshe, Ane-tum, En-entar-zid, Ur-Ningirsu, Ur-Bau

28.
Ur-Nanshe
–
Ur-Nanshe was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III. He is known through inscriptions to have commissioned many projects, including canals and temples, in the state of Lagash. He was probably not from royal lineage, being the son of Gunidu who was recorded without a royal title. He was the father of Akurgal, who succeeded him, Eanatum expanded the kingdom of Lagash by defeating Umma as illustrated in the Stele of the Vultures and continue building and renovation of Ur-Nanshe’s original buildings. He ascended after Lugal-shag-engur, who was the ensi, or high priest, waddell refers to him as Uruash. According to the Perforated Relief of King Ur-Nanshe, temples attributed to Ur-Nanshe include Ningirsus temple in Girsu, Nanshes temple in Nina and he is known to have originally built the Ibgal of Inanna, because of Eanatums honorary inscriptions left after temple renovation. The Ibgal of Inanna is located in modern day al-Hiba, an oval wall surrounds the main mud brick temple and it is located on the southwest edge of the city. This placement within the city is different because temples were usually positioned in ancient Sumer. Ur-Nanshe has left many inscriptions and plates that depict him, his family. The Perforated Relief of King Ur-Nanshe is on display at the Louvre. The king is portrayed as a builder of temples and canals, in the top register he is dressed in a kaunakes, carrying a basket of bricks on his head while surrounded by other Lagash elite, his wife, and sons. Inscriptions on their respective garments identify each person, on the bottom register, Ur-Nanshe is at a banquet, which is to celebrate the building of the temple. He is seated on a throne wearing the outfit as the top register surrounded by other court members. In both registers Ur-Nanshe is shown using hierarchical proportion in which he is larger than everyone surrounding him. Further inscriptions read, “boats from the land of Dilmun carried the wood ”, the Plaque of Ur Nanshe is a limestone plaque currently located at the Louvre Museum that honors Ur Nanshe. The figures displayed are the king and his court standing rigid and wide eyed and they are dressed in kaunakes with their hands clasped together over their chest. Hierarchical scale of the king and the use of cuneiform on the figures to them are employed as in the Perforated Relief. There are many inscriptions found by or mentioning Ur-Nanshe

29.
Eannatum
–
Eannatum was a Sumerian king of Lagash, he established one of the first verifiable empires in history. One inscription found on a states that Eannatum was his Sumerian name. Eannatum, grandson of Ur-Nanshe, was a king of Lagash who conquered all of Sumer, including Ur, Nippur, Akshak, Larsa and he also annexed the kingdom of Kish, which regained its independence after his death. Eannatum expanded his influence beyond the boundaries of Sumer and he conquered parts of Elam, including the city Az off the coast of the modern Persian Gulf, allegedly smote Shubur, and demanded tribute as far as Mari. However, revolts often arose in parts of his empire, during Eannatum’s reign, many temples and palaces were built, especially in Lagash. The city of Nina, probably a precursor of Niniveh, was rebuilt, with many canals, the so-called Stele of the Vultures, now in the Louvre, is a fragmented limestone stele found in Telloh, Iraq, in 1881. The stele is reconstructed as having been 1.80 metres high and 1.30 metres wide and was set up ca and it was erected as a monument of the victory of Eannatum of Lagash over Enakalle of Umma. On it various incidents in the war are represented, in another register a figure, presumed to be that of the king, rides on his chariot in the thick of the battle. On the other side of the stele is an image of Ninurta and this implies that Eannatum attributed his victory to Ninurta, and thus that he was in the gods protection

30.
Entemena
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Entemena was a son of En-anna-tum I, and he reestablished Lagash as a power in Sumer. He defeated Illi of Umma, with the aid of Lugal-kinishe-dudu of Uruk, successor to Enshakushanna and he has one of the earliest statues of a known king from Mesopotamia. The statue was housed in the National Museum of Iraq, in May 2003 the statue was stolen during the Second Gulf War. It was found and returned in 2010, a tripod of silver dedicated by Entemena to his god is now in the Louvre. A frieze of lions devouring ibexes and deer, incised with great skill, runs round the neck. The vase is a proof of the degree of excellence to which the goldsmiths art had already attained. A vase of calcite, also dedicated by Entemena, has found at Nippur. A foundation deposit clay nail of Entemena, in excellent condition relates a peace treaty and it is one of the oldest diplomatic documents known

31.
Urukagina
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Urukagina, alternately rendered as Uruinimgina or Irikagina, was a ruler of the city-state Lagash in Mesopotamia. He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been appointed, upon the downfall of his corrupt predecessor. He is best known for his reforms to combat corruption, which are cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history. Although the actual text has not been discovered, much of its content may be surmised from references to it that have been found. He also participated in conflicts, notably a losing border conflict with Uruk. The destruction of Lagash was described in a lament, which stressed that the men of Umma, offence there was none in Urukagina, king of Girsu, but as for Lugal-Zage-Si, governor of Umma, may his goddess Nisaba make him carry his sin upon his neck. Lugal-Zage-Si himself was defeated and his kingdom was annexed by Sargon of Akkad. Urukaginas code has been hailed as the first recorded example of government reform, seeking to achieve a higher level of freedom. Despite these apparent attempts to curb the excesses of the class, it seems elite or royal women enjoyed even greater influence. In his second year of reign, Shasha presided over the funeral of his predecessors queen, Baranamtarra. In addition to changes, two of his other surviving decrees, first published and translated by Samuel Kramer in 1964, have attracted controversy in recent decades. First, he seems to have abolished the custom of polyandry in his country. Second is a statute stating that if a woman says to a man, no comparable laws from Urukagina addressing penalties for adultery by men have survived. The discovery of fragments has led some modern critics to assert that they provide the first written evidence of the degradation of women. Some insight into Sumerian values can be gained from praise poems written for kings, while the kings may not always live up to this praise they show the type of achievements that they wished to be remembered by. Extracts below praise Urukagina who appears as a reformer, getting rid of gross abuses of power that had taken hold in Lagash. These were the conventions of former times and he removed the head boatman from control over the boats, he removed the livestock official from control over asses and sheep, he removed the fisheries inspector from control. Administrators no longer plunder the orchards of the poor

32.
Adab (city)
–
Adab or Udab was an ancient Sumerian city between Telloh and Nippur. It was located at the site of modern Bismaya or Bismya in the Wasit Province of Iraq, walter Andrae visited Bismaya in 1902, found a table fragment and produced a sketch map of the site. Excavations conducted there for six months, from Christmas of 1903 to June 1904, for the University of Chicago, by Dr. The city was divided into two parts by a canal, on an island in which stood the temple, E-mach, with a ziggurat, or stepped tower. C, based on inscribed bricks excavated at Bismaya. Immediately below these, as at Nippur, were found dating to the reign of Naram-Suen and Sargon of Akkad. Below these there were still 10.5 metres of stratified remains, besides the remains of buildings, walls and graves, Dr. Banks discovered a large number of inscribed clay tablets of a very early period, bronze and stone tablets, bronze implements and the like. Of the tablets,543 went to the Oriental Institute and roughly 1100, mostly purchased from the rather than excavated. The latter are still apparently unpublished, of the Adab tablets that ended up at the University of Chicago, sponsor of the excavations, all have been published and also made available in digital form online. Of the purchased tablets sold piecemeal to various owners, a few have made their way into publication. Though the Banks expedition to Bismaya was well documented by the standards of the time, recently, the Oriental Institute has re-examined the records and objects returned to the institute by Banks and produced a report. There is a Sumerian comic tale of the Three Ox-drivers from Adab, a group of tells or settlement mounds are what remains of the ancient city. Adab was occupied from at least the Early Dynastic period, according to Sumerian text Inannas descent to the netherworld, there was a temple of Inanna named E-shar at Adab during the reign of Dumuzid of Uruk. In another text in the series, Dumuzids dream, Dumuzid of Uruk is toppled from his opulence by a hungry mob composed of men from the major cities of Sumer. A king of Kish, Mesilim, appears to have ruled at Adab, Adab is also mentioned in some of the Ebla tablets from roughly the same era as a trading partner of Ebla in northern Syria, shortly before Ebla was destroyed by unknown forces. A marble statue was found at Bismaya inscribed with the name of king of Adab, variously translated as Lugal-daudu, Da-udu, Lugaldalu. Several governors of the city under Ur III are also known, while no later archaeological evidence was found at Bismaya, the excavations there were brief, and there were later epigraphic references to Adab, such as in the Code of Hammurabi. Cities of the Ancient Near East Edgar James Banks, The Bismya Temple, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol.22, No. 1, pp. 29–34, Oct.1905 D. D. Luckenbill, Two Inscriptions of Mesilim, King of Kish, The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol.30, No

33.
Kubaba
–
Kubaba is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period of Sumerian history. In later times, she was worshipped as a goddess, Kubaba is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Iraqi history. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an alewife, the fisherman was fishing when 7 days had passed in the house of Kubaba, the tavern-keeper they brought to Esagila. At that time BROKEN anew for Esagila Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû, favored her and said, Let it be so. He entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world, ur-Zababa is also known as the king said to be reigning in Sumer during the youth of Sargon the Great of Akkad, who militarily brought much of the near east under his regime shortly afterward. Shrines in honour of Kubaba spread throughout Mesopotamia, in the Hurrian area she may be identified with Kebat, or Hepat, one title of the Hurrian Mother goddess Hannahannah. Abdi-Heba was the mayor, ruling Jerusalem at the time of the Amarna letters. Kubaba became the goddess who protected the ancient city of Carchemish on the upper Euphrates. She plays a role in Luwian texts and a role in Hittite texts. According to Emanuel Laroche, Maarten J. Vermaseren, and Mark Munn, her cult later spread and this deity later developed into the Phrygian matar kubileya, who was depicted in petroglyphs and mentioned in accompanying inscriptions. The Phrygian goddess otherwise bears little resemblance to Kubaba, who – according to Herodotus – was a deity at Sardis. Bremmer observes that in the century she was further Hellenized by Hipponax, as Kybêbê. From Grayson, A. K. Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles, Vermaseren, Maarten J. Cybele and Attis, the Myth and the Cult, A. M. H

34.
Sargon of Akkad
–
Sargon of Akkad was the first ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC. He was the founder of the Sargonic or Old Akkadian dynasty, the Sumerian king list makes him the cup-bearer to king Ur-Zababa of Kish. His empire is thought to have included most of Mesopotamia, parts of the Levant, besides incursions into Hurrite and Elamite territory, ruling from his capital, Sargon appears as a legendary figure in Neo-Assyrian literature of the 8th to 7th centuries BC. Tablets with fragments of a Sargon Birth Legend were found in the Library of Ashurbanipal, the Akkadian name is normalized as either Šarru-ukīn or Šarru-kēn. The names cuneiform spelling is variously LUGAL-ú-kin, šar-ru-gen6, šar-ru-ki-in, šar-ru-um-ki-in, in Late Assyrian references, the name is mostly spelled as LUGAL-GI. NA or LUGAL-GIN, i. e. identical to the name of the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II. The spelling Sargon is derived from the mention of the name in the Hebrew Bible, as סַרְגוֹן. The first element in the name is šarru, the Akkadian for king, the second element derived from the root kūn to confirm, establish. A possible interpretation of the reading Šarru-ukīn is the king has established stability, such a name would however be unusual, other names in -ukīn always include both a subject and an object, as in Šamaš-šuma-ukīn Shamash has established an heir. There is some debate whether the name was an adopted regnal name or a birth name. The reading Šarru-kēn has been interpreted adjectivally, as the king is established, legitimate, the terms Pre-Sargonic and Post-Sargonic were used in Assyriology based on the chronologies of Nabonidus before the historical existence of Sargon of Akkad was confirmed. The form Šarru-ukīn was known from the Assyrian Sargon Legend discovered in 1867 in Ashurbanipals library at Nineveh, the first contemporary reference to Sargon was found on the cylinder seal of Ibni-sharru, a high-ranking official serving under Sargon. Ménant published a description of this seal in 1877, reading the name as Shegani-shar-lukh. In 1883, the British Museum acquired the mace-head of Shar-Gani-sharri and this Shar-Gani was identified with the Sargon of Agade of Assyrian legend. The identification of Shar-Gani-sharri with Sargon was recognised as mistaken in the 1910s, Shar-Gani-sharri is in fact Sargons great-grandson, the successor of Naram-Sin. It is not entirely clear whether the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II was directly named for Sargon of Akkad, primary sources pertaining to Sargon are very sparse, the main near-contemporary reference is that in the various versions of the Sumerian king list. Here, Sargon is mentioned as the son of a gardener, former cup-bearer of Ur-Zababa of Kish and he usurped the kingship from Lugal-zage-si of Uruk and took it to his own city of Akkad. Various copies of the king list give the duration of his reign as either 54,55 or 56 years, in absolute years, his reign would correspond to ca. 2340–2284 BC in the Middle Chronology and his successors until the Gutian conquest of Sumer are also known as the Sargonic Dynasty and their rule as the Sargonic Period of Mesopotamian history

35.
Ur-Nanshe
–
Ur-Nanshe was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III. He is known through inscriptions to have commissioned many projects, including canals and temples, in the state of Lagash. He was probably not from royal lineage, being the son of Gunidu who was recorded without a royal title. He was the father of Akurgal, who succeeded him, Eanatum expanded the kingdom of Lagash by defeating Umma as illustrated in the Stele of the Vultures and continue building and renovation of Ur-Nanshe’s original buildings. He ascended after Lugal-shag-engur, who was the ensi, or high priest, waddell refers to him as Uruash. According to the Perforated Relief of King Ur-Nanshe, temples attributed to Ur-Nanshe include Ningirsus temple in Girsu, Nanshes temple in Nina and he is known to have originally built the Ibgal of Inanna, because of Eanatums honorary inscriptions left after temple renovation. The Ibgal of Inanna is located in modern day al-Hiba, an oval wall surrounds the main mud brick temple and it is located on the southwest edge of the city. This placement within the city is different because temples were usually positioned in ancient Sumer. Ur-Nanshe has left many inscriptions and plates that depict him, his family. The Perforated Relief of King Ur-Nanshe is on display at the Louvre. The king is portrayed as a builder of temples and canals, in the top register he is dressed in a kaunakes, carrying a basket of bricks on his head while surrounded by other Lagash elite, his wife, and sons. Inscriptions on their respective garments identify each person, on the bottom register, Ur-Nanshe is at a banquet, which is to celebrate the building of the temple. He is seated on a throne wearing the outfit as the top register surrounded by other court members. In both registers Ur-Nanshe is shown using hierarchical proportion in which he is larger than everyone surrounding him. Further inscriptions read, “boats from the land of Dilmun carried the wood ”, the Plaque of Ur Nanshe is a limestone plaque currently located at the Louvre Museum that honors Ur Nanshe. The figures displayed are the king and his court standing rigid and wide eyed and they are dressed in kaunakes with their hands clasped together over their chest. Hierarchical scale of the king and the use of cuneiform on the figures to them are employed as in the Perforated Relief. There are many inscriptions found by or mentioning Ur-Nanshe

Akkadian language
–
Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influ

Sumer
–
Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place. Proto-writing in the dates back to c.3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC, modern historians have sugge

1.
Map of Sumer

2.
The Samarra bowl, at the Pergamonmuseum, Berlin. The swastika in the center of the design is a reconstruction.

3.
Fragment of Eannatum 's Stele of the Vultures

Ur
–
Ur was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in south Iraqs Dhi Qar Governorate. The city dates from the Ubaid period circa 3800 BC, and is recorded in history as a City State from the 26th century BC. The site is marked by the restored ruins of the Ziggurat of Ur. The temple was bui

1.
The ruins of Ur, with the Ziggurat of Ur visible in the background

2.
Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC, with Ur (south) to Nineveh in the north.

3.
The Standard of Ur mosaic is made of red limestone, bitumen, lapis lazuli, and shell, depicts peacetime, from the royal tombs of Ur.

Sumerian King List
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Kingship was seen as handed down by the gods, and could be transferred from one city to another, reflecting perceived hegemony in the region. Throughout its Bronze Age existence, the document evolved into a political tool, the list blends prehistorical, presumably mythical predynastic rulers enjoying implausibly lengthy reigns with later, more plau

1.
Contents

2.
Geography

Queen regent
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A regent is a person appointed to administer a state because the monarch is a minor, is absent or is incapacitated. The rule of a regent or regents is called a regency, a regent or regency council may be formed ad hoc or in accordance with a constitutional rule. Regent is sometimes a formal title, if the formally appointed regent is unavailable or

1.
Regentesses of the Old Men's Almshouse in Haarlem, Frans Hals, 1664

Cylinder seal
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Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC in the Near East, at the contemporary sites of Susa in south-western Iran and Uruk in southern Mesopotamia. They are linked to the invention of the cuneiform writing on clay tablets. They were used as a tool, a form of signature, as well as jewelry and as magical amulets. In later periods, they were used

1.
Old Babylonian cylinder seal, c.1800 BCE, hematite. The robed king makes an animal offering to Shamash. This seal was probably made in a workshop at Sippar.

4.
This cylinder seal from Cyprus shows two nude female figures. Each holds a flower, a symbol of fertility. The Walters Art Museum.

NIN (cuneiform)
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The Sumerian word NIN was used to denote a queen or a priestess, and is often translated as lady. Other translations include queen, mistress, proprietress, and lord, many goddesses are called NIN, such as DNIN. GAL, DÉ. NIN. GAL, DEREŠ. KI. GAL, and DNIN. TI. The compound form NIN. DINGIR, from the Akkadian entu, NIN originated as a ligature of the

Akkadian Empire
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The empire united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian Empire controlled Mesopotamia, the Levant, and eastern and southern parts of Anatolia and Iran, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan in the Arabian Peninsula. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed an intimate cultural symbiosis bet

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Map of the Akkadian Empire (brown) and the directions in which military campaigns were conducted (yellow arrows)

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Bronze head of an Akkadian, probably an image of Manishtusu or Naram-Sin; descendants of Sargon (National Museum of Iraq)

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Kings of the Akkad Dynasty

United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border wi

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Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.

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Flag

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The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.

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The Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.

Archaeologist
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities. In North America, archaeology is considered a sub-field of anthropo

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Mortimer Wheeler pioneered systematic excavation in the early 20th century. Pictured, are his excavations at Maiden Castle, Dorset, in October 1937.

Grave goods
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Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a type of votive deposit, most grave goods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery a

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The gilded throne of Pharaoh Tutankhamun is but one of the treasures found within his tomb.

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Warrior's burial from Hamburg-Marmstorf Grave

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A Copper Age grave group including a stone wristguard, copper dagger and bone belt fitting found at Sittingbourne

Lyres of Ur
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The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur are considered to be the worlds oldest surviving stringed instruments. In 1929, archaeologists led by Leonard Woolley discovered the instruments when excavating the Royal Cemetery of Ur between from 1922 and 1934 and they discovered pieces of three lyres and one harp in Ur, located in what was Ancient Mesopotamia and

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Detail of the "Peace" panel of the Standard of Ur showing lyrist, excavated from the same site as the Lyres of Ur.

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The Queen's lyre and the silver lyre, from the Royal Cemetery at Ur, southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. The British Museum, London.

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Bull's head of the Queen's lyre from Pu-abi's grave PG 800, the Royal Cemetery at Ur, Southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. The British Museum, London.

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Cow's head of the Silver Lyre, from the Great Death Pit at the Royal Cemetery, Ur, southern Mesopotamia, Iraq. The British Museum, London

Tableware
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Tableware is the dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polyn

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Formal dining table laid for a large private dinner party at Chatsworth House

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Table laid for six Royal Castle, Warsaw, (18th-19th century)

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Table laid for one

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Pewter and old glass tableware

Lapis lazuli
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Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue, semi-precious stone prized since antiquity for its intense color. As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Lapis beads have been found at burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus. It was used i

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Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan in its natural state

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A sample from the Sar-i Sang mine in Afghanistan, where lapis lazuli has been mined since the 7th Millennium BCE.

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A polished block of lapis lazuli

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Natural ultramarine pigment made from ground lapis lazuli. This was the most expensive blue pigment during the Renaissance, often reserved for depicting the robes of Angels or the Virgin Mary.

University of Pennsylvania Museum
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The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology — commonly called Penn Museum — is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penns campus in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, since 1958, the Penn Museum has published Expedition magazine. The excavati

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The Warden Garden and Main Entrance to the Penn Museum

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The Stoner Courtyard at the Penn Museum

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Merneptah presents an offering to Ptah on a stone column (University of Pennsylvania Museum)

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Schools

Cinnabar
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Cinnabar generally occurs as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs. The mineral resembles quartz in symmetry and in its exhibiting birefringence, cinnabar has a refractive index of ~3.2. The color and properties derive from a structure that is a crystalline lattice belonging to the hexagonal crysta

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Cinnabar

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Cinnabar mercury ore from Nevada, USA

Natural History Museum, London
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The Natural History Museum in London is a museum of natural history that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum, the Natural History Museums main frontage, however, is on Cromwell Road. The museum is hom

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Natural History Museum

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An 1881 plan showing the original arrangement of the Museum. (Link to current floor plans).

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The Natural History Museum, shown in wide-angle view here, has an ornate terracotta facade by Gibbs and Canning Limited typical of high Victorian architecture. The terracotta mouldings represent the past and present diversity of nature.

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The main hall of the museum

British Museum
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The British Museum is dedicated to human history, art and culture, and is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician, the museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. Although today principally

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British Museum

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The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2001 to become the Great Court, surrounding the original Reading Room.

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Sir Hans Sloane

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Montagu House, c. 1715

London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city

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Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace and Central London skyline

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The name London may derive from the River Thames

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make P

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From top left, the Philadelphia skyline, a statue of Benjamin Franklin, the Liberty Bell, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia City Hall, and Independence Hall

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An 18th century map of Philadelphia.

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Penn's Treaty with the Indians by Benjamin West

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Benjamin Franklin, 1777

Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, B

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Zumurrud Khaton tomb in Baghdad (built in 1202 AD), photo of 1932.

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Panoramic view over the ancient city of Babylon, located 85 km (53 mi) south of Baghdad.

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Suq al-Ghazel (The Yarn Bazaar) Minaret in Baghdad, Mesopotamia (Iraq). This is the oldest minaret in Baghdad. It belonged to the Caliph Mosque, built by Caliph Muktafi 901–907 AD.

Iraq War
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The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 y

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Clockwise from top: U.S. troops at Uday Hussein and Qusay Hussein's hideout; insurgents in northern Iraq; an Iraqi insurgent firing a MANPADS; the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Firdos Square.

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A UN weapons inspector examines an Iraqi factory in 2002.

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President George Bush, surrounded by leaders of the House and Senate, announces the Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq, 2 October 2002.

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Excerpt from Donald Rumsfeld memo dated 27 November 2001

Dumuzid the Shepherd
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Dumuzid, called the Shepherd, from Bad-tibira in Sumer, was, according to the Sumerian King List, the fifth predynastic king in the legendary period before the Deluge. The list further states that Dumuzid ruled for 36,000 years, Dumuzid the Shepherd is also the subject of a series of epic poems in Sumerian literature. She dissuades the demons from

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The marriage of Inanna and Dumuzid

Kish (Sumer)
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Kish was occupied from the Jemdet Nasr period, gaining prominence as one of the pre-eminent powers in the region during the early dynastic period. The Sumerian king list states that Kish was the first city to have following the deluge. Jushurs successor is called Kullassina-bel, but this is actually a sentence in Akkadian meaning All of them were l

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Murex bearing the name of " Rimush, king of Kish", ca. 2270 BC, Louvre

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Ruins of a ziggurat at the Sumerian city of Kish. Babel Governorate, Iraq.

Uruk
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Uruk is the type site for the Uruk period. Uruk played a role in the early urbanization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC. At its height c.2900 BC, Uruk probably had 50, 000–80,000 residents living in 6 km2 of walled area, the legendary king Gilgamesh, according to the chronology presented in the Sumerian king list, ruled Uruk in the 27th centu

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relief on the front of the Inanna temple of Karaindash from Uruk. Pergamon Museum.

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Uruk cylinder seal, depicting monstrous animals.

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Uruk in 2008

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cone mosaic courtyard

Gilgamesh
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Gilgamesh is the main character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an Akkadian poem that is considered the first great work of literature, and in earlier Sumerian poems. His name means something to the effect of The Ancestor is a Young-man, from Bil. ga = Ancestor, Elder and Mes/Mesh3 = Young-Man. Gilgamesh is generally seen by scholars as a figure, since i

Lagash
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Lagash/ˈleɪɡæʃ/ is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East, the ancient site of Nina is around 10 km away and marks the southern limit of the state. Nearby Girs

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Relief of Ur-Nanshe. At the top he creates the foundation for a shrine, at the bottom he presides over the dedication (Louvre).

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Entemena 's inscribed Silver Vase (Louvre)

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Gudea of Lagash, diorite statue found at Girsu (Louvre)

Ur-Nanshe
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Ur-Nanshe was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III. He is known through inscriptions to have commissioned many projects, including canals and temples, in the state of Lagash. He was probably not from royal lineage, being the son of Gunidu who was recorded without a royal title. He was the father of

1.
Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, representing the bird-god Anzu (or Im-dugud) as a lion-headed eagle. Alabaster, Early Dynastic III (2550–2500 BC). Found in Telloh, ancient city of Girsu.

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Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash. Limestone, Early Dynastic III (2550–2500 BC). Found in Telloh (ancient city of Girsu).

Eannatum
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Eannatum was a Sumerian king of Lagash, he established one of the first verifiable empires in history. One inscription found on a states that Eannatum was his Sumerian name. Eannatum, grandson of Ur-Nanshe, was a king of Lagash who conquered all of Sumer, including Ur, Nippur, Akshak, Larsa and he also annexed the kingdom of Kish, which regained it

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A fragment of the Stele of the Vultures

Entemena
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Entemena was a son of En-anna-tum I, and he reestablished Lagash as a power in Sumer. He defeated Illi of Umma, with the aid of Lugal-kinishe-dudu of Uruk, successor to Enshakushanna and he has one of the earliest statues of a known king from Mesopotamia. The statue was housed in the National Museum of Iraq, in May 2003 the statue was stolen during

1.
One of the oldest diplomatic documents known, on a clay nail, by King Entemena, c 2400 BC.

Urukagina
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Urukagina, alternately rendered as Uruinimgina or Irikagina, was a ruler of the city-state Lagash in Mesopotamia. He assumed the title of king, claiming to have been appointed, upon the downfall of his corrupt predecessor. He is best known for his reforms to combat corruption, which are cited as the first example of a legal code in recorded history

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Fragment of an inscription of Urukagina; it reads as follows: "He [Uruinimgina] dug (…) the canal to the town-of-NINA. At its beginning, he built the Eninnu; at its ending, he built the Esiraran." (Musée du Louvre)

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The burning of Lagash

Adab (city)
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Adab or Udab was an ancient Sumerian city between Telloh and Nippur. It was located at the site of modern Bismaya or Bismya in the Wasit Province of Iraq, walter Andrae visited Bismaya in 1902, found a table fragment and produced a sketch map of the site. Excavations conducted there for six months, from Christmas of 1903 to June 1904, for the Unive

Kubaba
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Kubaba is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period of Sumerian history. In later times, she was worshipped as a goddess, Kubaba is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Iraqi history. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an ale

Sargon of Akkad
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Sargon of Akkad was the first ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire, known for his conquests of the Sumerian city-states in the 24th to 23rd centuries BC. He was the founder of the Sargonic or Old Akkadian dynasty, the Sumerian king list makes him the cup-bearer to king Ur-Zababa of Kish. His empire is thought to have included most of Mesop

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Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, c. 2230 BC. It shows him defeating the Lullibi, a tribe in the Zagros Mountains, trampling them and spearing them. He is also twice the size of his soldiers. In the 12th century BC it was taken to Susa, where it was found in 1898.

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The Merneptah stele. While alternative translations exist, the majority of biblical archeologists translate a set of hieroglyphs as "Israel", representing the first instance of the name Israel in the historical record.

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Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of Lagash (maybe Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC, found in Girsu.

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Overview map of the Ancient Near East in the 15th century BC (Middle Assyrian period), showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities Assur and Nineveh wedged between Babylonia downstream (to the south-east) and the states of Mitanni and Hatti upstream (to the north-west).

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Assyrian attack on a town with archers and a wheeled battering ram, 865–860 BC

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Jehu, king of Israel, bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC

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A group of Asiatic peoples (perhaps the future Hyksos) depicted entering Egypt c.1900 BC from the tomb of a 12th Dynasty official Khnumhotep II under pharaoh Senusret II at Beni Hasan. The glyphs above are above the head of the first animal

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Mummified head of Seqenenre Tao, bearing axe-blade wounds. The common theory is that he died in a battle against the Hyksos.

Ur-Nanshe
–
Ur-Nanshe was the first king of the First Dynasty of Lagash in the Sumerian Early Dynastic Period III. He is known through inscriptions to have commissioned many projects, including canals and temples, in the state of Lagash. He was probably not from royal lineage, being the son of Gunidu who was recorded without a royal title. He was the father of

1.
Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash, representing the bird-god Anzu (or Im-dugud) as a lion-headed eagle. Alabaster, Early Dynastic III (2550–2500 BC). Found in Telloh, ancient city of Girsu.

2.
Votive relief of Ur-Nanshe, king of Lagash. Limestone, Early Dynastic III (2550–2500 BC). Found in Telloh (ancient city of Girsu).